In the era of always-on responsiveness and instant communications, organizations are looking at how to simplify the digital creation of contracts. Finance, procurement, legal, and other departments are looking to standardize and simplify the management of the underlying content and to automate the contract creation.

A number of industries have been using document automation for decades as a way of streamlining the creation of their electronic communications. Insurance agencies, financial services, and legal firms automate the creation of contracts, policies, and customer correspondence among other things.

Research conducted by Forrester on the value of combining CCM and digital experience.

With the advent of a new year, many organizations will be evaluating their core IT systems in the coming weeks and months. Those firms using customer communication management solutions to output documents will be wondering if they should upgrade their current software . . . or switch solutions.

Customer communications management (CCM) has been—and continues to be—heavily influenced by technology at a pace that shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. While technology has made many aspects of CCM easier, tech has made CCM harder at times, too.

Electronic document assembly, or document automation, defines a category of solutions that simplify the task of creating documents—i.e., any content in its final format—via a digital or electronic means. While the concept is still very important to operational efficiency, the term “document” has become a bit passé; these days, it’s better to think in terms of automating the creation and delivery of “content” or of a “communication” that can be distributed through a wide array of channels.

The practice of automating tools and processes has come to signify a level of ‘high-tech’ sophistication within an organization. However, customer communications is an oft overlooked corner of the automation spectrum: it gives companies an efficient way to create, distribute, and manage customer communications. Although you may have previously considered automating customer communications as a means for implementing a responsive two-way conversational channel, it can be helpful to understand how once applied at a deeper level, content automation can become a crucial tool in maintaining and especially building a stronger brand presence in the marketplace. Here are three ways that content automation can help with your brand management.